The Plan of Purpose
by dkunoichi7
Summary: It's been seven years since Uchiha Sasuke left Konohagakure and nothing is the same, not even Haruno Sakura. But she and her ex-teammate have something in common: finding a purpose in their lives. Will running into each other again help them find the missing answers they need? Can they learn to let go of the past and work together? Find out in The Plan of Purpose.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Okay! For those of you who don't know (which is all of you) this is my first fanfiction ever. Please help wherever you see fit, but please don't be too harsh, either. Much love! Here's to chapter one!**

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><p>Wiping her brow, Haruno Sakura placed the palms of her hands on her bent knees, allowing herself a moment to breathe. Although Sakura was tired, she knew she shouldn't take a break...there was too much she had to get done...too much she had yet to accomplish in today's training. She had been training since before sunrise, as per usual, but her best friend, Uzumaki Naruto, had stopped her around lunch time to eat with him and spar after. As she stood straight once again, she looked around the ground where they had trained together. It was mostly torn to bits, little pieces of earth and bark scattered around the field, trees snapped in half no thanks to her super human strength.<p>

"Sakura-chan," Naruto breathed loudly. "Can we please stop? The sun is setting and I'm starving. You know I can't fight on an empty stomach!"

Sakura giggled at Naruto's whining. She was quite hungry herself, but she couldn't stop now. No, Naruto to could stop now and start again tomorrow, but Naruto exceeded Sakura in skill. Naruto didn't have to worry about being better because he already was. She would not deny that she had grown in the past seven years immensely; she was a member of the ANBU along with Naruto and Kakashi-sensei and surpassed many of the shinobi her age. But, Sakura would not stop until she reached her goal...she would not be the weakest member of the team any longer - she'd just have to eat later.

"You can go, Naruto," Sakura stated. Naruto looked at her wide-eyed and frowned, looking down at the ground and bunching his hands into fists. "You don't need to keep doing this to yourself, you know? They-"

"They are gone, Naruto. I know they can't see me now. But I could have saved them. I could have cured them, but I was too weak and they died. I need to be stronger... I can't let anyone else die from my lack of strength," Sakura stated. Naruto, having heard this story many times before, was becoming annoyed. "Yeah?! Well, that doesn't mean you have to kill yourself training so hard!" he yelled in exasperation.

"You just don't get it, do you?" Sakura enquired. "If I become strong enough, I can bring them to justice. But I'm not strong enough - not yet. I have to work harder everyday to achieve this goal, and if I am to die trying, then so be it." There was a silence that filled the air after she spoke. She didn't notice how tense her body was until she saw blood trickling down her arms from digging her nails so far into her palms.

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><p><em>The sandals on the pavement made a soft 'tap'-ing noise as the young kunoichi ran around the village. It was just before sunrise, and she wanted to find Naruto fast before they were to meet Kakashi-sensei for training. A cloud of dust and dirt formed around her as she skid to a fast hault in front of his apartment. Quietly, so she wouldn't wake any of his neighbors, she walked to the front door and rattled the doorknob - unlocked as usual. <em>_**Stupid idiot thinks just because he's a ninja that he shouldn't lock his door anymore**__, her inner personality seethed, but all Sakura could do was smile._

_Naruto had been her hero in the last year. He had been gone for two, and though they had both grown in his absence, he gave her the strength and the motivation to become even stronger and she admired him for that more than he could ever understand. She looked up to him and loved him like she would someone in her own family. He had been there through the hard times. Times where she would do nothing but cry on his shoulder, times whenever she would take her anger out on him for not keeping his promise. 'What a fool I am to think he could control someone else's decisions,' she thought to herself. And because of that, today (marking one year since Naruto had come back to Konoha), Sakura was going to honor him and show him how appreciated he was._

_She tip-toed inside his apartment and closed the door silently, using her ninja stealth to quietly cross his apartment until she stopped in front of his room. Sakura rolled her eyes when she found Naruto sleeping. He was always such a loud sleeper - and a very...messy? one at that. As she walked to his bed, she made a mental note of the time. She had five minutes until sunrise, that was barely enough. She had to hurry._

_"NARUTO! WAKE UP!" she screamed as she jumped on his bed and started shaking him. After yelling and falling off of the bed, Naruto started charging at Sakura before he was awake enough to recognize who she was. He relaxed his body, but soon tensed it up again. "Hey! Who do you think you are barging in someone's house at hours like this anyway?!" He yelled. Sakura couldn't help but giggle, "It was hardly barging. Maybe it'll teach you to keep your door locked. Anything could happen while you're sleeping - you're too vulnerable." Naruto looked away and pouted. He hated whenever she was right. What'd she come here for anyway?! Didn't she know a ninja like him needed a full night's sleep? _

_"Come with me," Sakura stated. Confused, Naruto just sat still for a minute until Sakura pulled on his arm. "'Come with me,' I said!" Yanking him forward with one arm, she used the other to unhatch the window, and after letting go, she let Naruto follow suit jumping on the roof. "What are we doing here?" He asked, still very confused. 'First, she comes in my house and wakes me up, then she lectures me, and now what does she have planned?!' he thought to himself. "Look at the sky, Naruto," she stated flatly._

_When he looked up, he saw the most amazing array of colors. The top of the sky was still a dark blue, almost black, from light not yet having reached it. The bottom half of the sky down to the horizon was a splash of light blues, pinks, oranges, and a small circle of yellow that poked out just as the sun started to ascend over the village. Naruto's jaw dropped at the beauty. Everyone was in their slumber right now, almost awake to start the day of work, but right now was a moment of quiet. He closed his mouth and his eyes as he took in a deep breath. He now knew why this was so important for Sakura to share with him, because this was the most beautiful memory Naruto could think to possess. The sky was beautiful, and the world was quiet and at peace._

_"Today marks one year to the day since you've been back," Sakura broke through the silence. When Naruto looked at her quizzically, she held up a finger and continued. "My life before you came back was dark and empty. Sure, there were stars that shone through, but they couldn't take away the darkness...they just added beauty to it. And then you came back, and when you did, you gave light to the darkness and made the sky beautiful again and you took away the darkness, slowly but surely." Sakura turned to her tan, whisker-faced friend as a smile spread across his face. " You saved me. You are my sun, Naruto."_

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><p>"Please, Sakura-chan." Emerald eyes met crystal blue ones when Sakura was snapped out of her memory as a calloused hand was placed on her shoulder. "Just for tonight...for memory's sake." She grabbed Naruto's hand and smiled. She shouldn't have rejected his offer the first time, she knew she could never say no to him anymore - not after all he had done for her. "I would be more than glad to accompany you to dinner, Naruto."<p>

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><p><em>Sakura had just arrived back from a mission two days prior and was on her way to the hokage's office to turn in her mission report. It was the most beautiful day she had experienced in awhile, so she took this time to wander around the village in the shops and decided to stop by and visit Ino before she made her way to see the Hokage.<em>

_As she walked out of the flower shop, she heard Yamanako Ino yell her final farewell to her for the day. She rolled her eyes as she heard the infamous nickname "Forehead" again. She hated that name, but she knew Ino meant well by it. They had been rivals growing up, but they used the nicknames as a way of making fun of it now. Now that certain people were gone, there was no need for cat-fights anymore. Sakura smiled to herself as she realized how much she had grown in the past four years since that day. 'I've matured well. I don't need him anymore,' she thought to herself. __**'That was almost believable,'**__ Inner Sakura grumbled. _

_"Sakura-chan."_

_"Mm?" She turned around to see Naruto standing in front of her, but for some reason, he wasn't looking as he usually did. He wasn't wearing the wide grin he had always worn and he didn't jump ecstatically at the sight of Sakura. She knew something was off about him, but Naruto was the kind of person who would bring it up on his own if it bothered him enough, so she decided not to say anything about whatever it may be._

_"Oi, Naruto! I was just on my way to see Tsunade-sama to give her my mission report. Perhaps you'd like to come with me?" Sakura's eyebrows came together in confusion when Naruto flinched at her words, but still, she kept quiet. "Of course I'll go with you, Sakura-chan. You know I'll always be with you, dattebayo," Naruto said in a serious tone. He walked next to Sakura and embraced her, then started on his way to the Hokage's office with his head down and his hands in his pockets. The entire walk there was silent, and Naruto wouldn't look up from the ground, even upon entering the Hokage's office. Whatever was wrong with him must have really been bugging him..._

_When Sakura walked in the room she was confused at the sight of Kakashi-sensei, but figured he was just turning in his mission report, as well. "Tsunade-shishou," Sakura greeted as she bowed. "I have my mission report for you."_

_The Godaime stood and took the report from her and Sakura noticed her shoulders were slumped and her eyes were tear-stained. Wait, now that she looked at Kakashi-sensei, he looked awfully sulky today, too._

_"What's going on Shishou?"_

_"Sakura, have a seat," Tsunade choked. Sakura sat down in a chair in front of her mentor silently, but in her head was war. Thoughts in her mind battling with each other, wondering which one might be the reason for everyone's mood. What could have happened that made everyone around her so melancholy? They had passed their A-Rank mission, shouldn't that be enough reason to be happy? They were all alive and well..._

_"I had sent Naruto to come get you, but I see that you came on your own. Tell me, Sakura, how was your mis-" _

_"Tsunade-baa-chan, with all due respect, I think you need to cut the casualities and just tell her what's going on," Naruto interrupted. Usually she would beat him over the head for the disrespectful name and interruption, but today she just closed her eyes and nodded. That worried Sakura. It told her there really was something wrong. _

_"Sakura, when you got back from your mission, your parents were still in the hospital," Tsunade spoke out. It sounded like it was meant to be a question, but Sakura knew it was a statement. "Yes, Tsunade-sama, but they've been in the hospital for months. What's..."_

_Sakura's eyes widened as reality struck her. She knew what her shishou was about to tell her, but she didn't want to believe it. "No..."_

_Naruto walked behind Sakura and put his hand on her shoulder. "Yesterday, when going to check on your parents, the nurse could find no pulse or breath." Tsunade's voice cracked and a tear streamed down her cheek. She hated this part of her job. As she looked into the eyes of her beloved apprentice, one she considered her own daughter, and told her of her deceased parents, she was reminded just how many reasons she had to loath such a postion of power._

_"But they were getting healthier. I don't understand..."_

_"Your parents were pronounced dead yesterday, Sakura. I'm sorry... I did everything I could. I tried my best. I did everything I knew how to do when a situation like this occurs, but there was nothing else I could do to bring them back."_

_Sakura's lip quivered and her whole body shook, but she wouldn't cry. She wasn't weak anymore, she was a shinobi, and real, strong ninja did not show emotions. She was sure this was no exception. "I see," was all she could croak out without crying. Hatake Kakashi stood to his feet and walked gracefully over to Sakura just as Naruto was pulling her up by her shoulders. "What a cruel world we live in. What terrible rules we teach to the people not to cry or show any emotion because that's not what a real shinobi does: shinobi must be strong," he turned to look at her, his one uncovered eye looking solemnly into her glossy jade eyes. "Anyone can hide their emotions, Sakura. It takes a strong person to show their true self to those they love." And with that last sentence, she finally let go, just like he knew she would._

_Tears streamed down her face, sobs ripped from her throat and her body shook uncontrollably as Naruto held her closer than he ever had before. His shirt was soaked from her sorrow, his eyes tear stained and hallow. 'How could I let this happen?' She thought to herself. Her knees had buckled beneath her and had it not been for Naruto's hold on her, Sakura would have doubled over in the fetal position._

_'Weak...'_

_"I... can't... believe this..." she choked between sobs._

_'You could have saved them...'_

_"Sakura-chan, I am so sorry..." was all that Naruto could say. He knew what is was like to be lonely. He lived in absolute lonliness everyday of his life, and his bubble-gum haired friend had helped him on the days when that lonlieness was the worst. But he didn't know the feeling of losing a loved one to death. Sure, there was that time when a certain team member left...but that couldn't be anything compared to this. _

_'You were too weak to save them...'_

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><p>As she walked with Naruto to Ichiraku's ramen stand, she heard him talking about the mission he would be leaving on soon and how excited he was. She was lucky, she thought, at that point to have two personalities: one listening to Naruto ramble while the other was stuck deep in thought.<p>

Sakura stopped as she looked up at the sky. It was a dark blue, black color with whisps of the occasional cloud floating by, but all Sakura could notice was the beautiful pale yellow, full moon. A breeze swept across them, picking up sand with it in a cloud, blowing her waist-length hair all around her body, but Sakura didn't notice. She didn't notice Naruto's puzzled gaze in her direction at her sudden stop, and she didn't notice the way her hands clenched into fists.

"That day, Naruto," she began, still looking at the moon. "That day changed my life forever. I will not be the same kunoichi you used to know. I have to become stronger. I refuse to be weak anymore."

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><p>He lay awake looking up into the pitch blackness of his quaters. His life goal had already been accomplished, and yet he was feeling heavy-hearted, full of regret. Though he couldn't see anything in the dark abyss, Uchiha Sasuke held his hands just close enough to his face to see their shaking silhouettes, eyes wide in terror. There was no visable blood present, but the stench was forever engraved into his nose, into his memory. Memories of a bloody smile and broken, tremling fingers poking his forehead for the very last time. Uchiha Itachi had tried to protect him, but Sasuke had done it: he had killed his own kin, his own blood. He had ended the very life of the person that he had most looked up to all of those years as a child, he had silenced the voice of the person he loved most. He couldn't take it back, he couldn't undo the things he had done and the decisions he had made.<p>

'_But, regardless of reason, he still killed the entire clan. That's a worthy cause of death.' _Sasuke thought to himself. But he knew that what he had done would truly follow him for the rest of his life. There would be a lifetime of sleepless nights. Constant memories of happier times and the memory of the day he killed his brother would forever haunt him; he wasn't convinced that even death would stop this deep rooted seed of regret.

'_You are an avenger.' _His mind played over and over. But that did not ease the pain, and he knew it never quite would. His mother and father, all of his aunts and uncles, never would have wanted this to happen. They always taught about forgiveness. They would never have wanted Sasuke to live the life he was now: an S-ranked criminal in the bingo book with so much blood on his hands he could almost taste it. But what had been done had been done, and he couldn't take it back. Where was he to go now? Everything he'd ever wanted in life had been finished and he felt even emptier than when he'd first started. What Sasuke needed was to start life all over, he decided.

But, what was he to do now? His only other life goal was to revive his clan, but he wasn't the affectionate type. He didn't know much about women, because he'd skipped that phase of being obsessed with them when he was too worried about avenging his clan. The only thing he knew about women, really, was how to get them pregnant. But how was he supposed to do that now? He'd never even been in a relationship with a woman, hell, he'd never even kissed a woman. The new heir of the Uchiha clan needed to be a worthy ninja in battle, and for that to happen, the mother of the child needed to be a worthy enough candidate. He wished his mother was here to help him pick the right woman for him, if there was even one out there at all. He didn't deserve love at this point, and he was almost okay with the thought of just letting the clan die out once he had taken his last breath. How would he share this with someone else? All of this hurt and agony, all of these life choices that he couldn't explain. Nobody could understand him even if they tried.

His mind flashed to a place that he'd long put to rest, and usually he would push the thought from his mind the instant it came up, but tonight he didn't stop himself.

He closed his eyes as he let his mind wander at the thought of his home back in Konohagakure. He thought of the days he had spent there with Itachi. He thought of times when they would walk around the village on sunny days when it was nice to avoid going home to their father. Thoughts of his mother's smile were ever present in his imagination. If he focused really hard, he noticed he could remeber what she smelled like, or the way her arms felt as they tightly embraced him. He could hear his father's stern but loving voice when he was training Sasuke to become a shinobi, and with all of these memories came a lump in his throat. He missed when life was easy and he wished for just one second that he could hear from his mother and father for one last time and remind them just how much he cared for them. Suddenly, a song long forgotten popped into his endlessly wandering mind. It was the song his mother had written for him and had sang to him every night when he was a child, and at the memory of this, Sasuke found enough calm in the storm to lull himself to sleep at the sound of his mother's voice.

Sasuke rubbed the sleep out of his eyes as his eternal clock awoke him. It was just before sunrise, which meant the rest of team Hebi was sleeping. If he went now they wouldn't see him leaving. This was the perfect time. He grabbed his pack and shoved a couple of items in there that he'd set aside whenever he awoke in the middle of the night. As he opened up his window, he took one last look around his room to make sure he'd grabbed everything. He was about to close the window when he paused and suddenly remembered what he had forgotton. The Uchiha dashed to a small cabinet that he kept next to his futon, taking a key out of his pocket, he hurredly unlocked the cabinet, taking all of its contents and putting them neatly into his bag. As he was locking the cabinet, he heard a noise that sounded like footsteps down the hall. As quietly as he could, so that he would not cause any suspisions to arise, the raven-haired shinobi locked the cabinet and ran with incredible speed out of the window, shutting it as silently as possible.

And then he ran. He didn't know where he was running to, or how long he was going to be running. All he knew is it would be long enough for him to come up with a plan; long enough for him to figure out a way live with a purpose. He needed a purpose.

The day had gone by a lot faster than Sasuke thought it would have, and he was surprised that team Hebi hadn't found him yet. He had been masking his chakra, but doing that took chakra, and doing so all day wore him out. The sky was black with stars gleaming across its entire expansion and crickets chirping could be heard in between Sasuke's breaths. The moon shown on his face as he hopped from tree to tree looking for a place to camp. He decided to go a little farther out than necessary just to make sure nobody would find him. Once he found a place he deemed well hidden and safe enough to sleep in, he set up camp and started a fire. Not feeling too hungry, he forced himself to eat some onigiri that he'd packed, knowing that he'd regret it in the morning if he didn't eat now. When he was done eating he lay in his sleeping bag, and though it was only early nighttime, he felt like tonight he would find sleep quicker than the night before. Although he had fallen asleep to the sound of his mother's voice, Sasuke had an awful night's sleep. Tossing and turning, waking up and falling back to sleep. One of the times he awoke, he decided to use it to his advantage and plan ahead. He couldn't believe that he didn't know exactly what he was going to do, but he needed to start somewhere, and he couldn't do that with the rest of team Hebi following him.

Sasuke sat up and reached for his pack, grabbing what he couldn't believe he'd almost forgotten back at his quarters: his headband from the Village Hidden in the Leaves. The Uchiha heir sat calmly for awhile, thumbing the scratch through the leaf symbol on the forehead protector. He chuckled to himself at the memory of Naruto scratching through it, not because it was particularly funny, but because people would always think he'd done it when he left Konoha. Had Naruto seen this coming all along? Should he have stayed and listened to his friends? Did he let hate get too far into his heart? Sasuke gripped his hand around the forehead protect and slammed his eyes shut. He shouldn't be thinking about these things. He would never let himself think that the answer to any of those pathetic questions was 'yes.' He couldn't make time for people anymore, at least not enough time to make bonds with them again. This was his time, now. Orochimaru and Itachi were dead; he'd done everything he came here for. This chapter was over and it was time to cut all ties, yet again.

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><p><strong>AN: So that's it for the first chapter. Thank you soooo much for reading. Please review! It would mean everything to me! I will have chapter two up very soon!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: For those of you reading, I've reposted the story and added a new chapter. I had to repost due to editing issues but I think I've figured them out. Anyway, chapter two!**

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><p>Sakura's emerald eyes fluttered opened at the sound of rain tapping at her window. As her eyes wandered the room she noticed it was still night time and that she should probably go back to sleep. She shut her eyes and tried to let the rain calm her back into a sleep, but it was doing her no justice, because although her body was tired, her mind was wide awake and very active. Ever since her talk with Naruto, Sakura had been thinking a lot about her life, about her parents. Tonight the rain reminded her of whenever she was little. She would get so scared of the rain and she would run to her parents. "Otou-san, Okaa-san," she would say. "Save me from the rain." She crushed her eyes tighter to stop the tears from flowing.<p>

How she wished her mother and father were still here to save her from the rain. The rainy days of life whenever she had nobody to wrap their arms around her and tell her it was okay. She missed the way her mother would always tell her things were going to be alright, and she replayed it over and over in her head. But she knew this pain would never heal, it would never cease to exist. How could the only two people who truly loved her besides her dear kyuubi friend be gone? Just like that.

She sat up and grabbed a picture frame with an old photograph of team seven inside. It seemed like everyone she'd ever loved had left her. Naruto came back, but she'd never truly loved Naruto until his absence. '_Maybe that was a good thing. Maybe that's what kept him safe_,' she thought to herself. She ran a thumb over her raven haired ex-teammate's face as tears began to well up in her eyes again, but this time, she let them fall. '_You left me, too. Only, that was by choice.'_ Tears began to drop from her glossy eyes and onto the old photo as she cried for the first time in years. Why couldn't she stop herself? Shinobi weren't supposed to cry... Wasn't she stronger than this? She threw the picture at the wall as she screamed in frustration. It was too late once she had realized what she had done, as there was shattered glass all around her room from the broken frame.

"Damn it!" she cried. "Why do I break everything I come in contact with?!"

She felt so empty, but so full of emotions all at the same time. Her team had been broken apart, her parents had died, her life had crumpled to pieces. She became a ninja so that she could save her civilian parents, but she failed...she couldn't protect them and they were gone. What was she going to do now? Other than being a medic and going on assassin missions as an ANBU, what purpose did her life hold anymore? She was only going through the motions at this point, something she had never wanted to do. Life was supposed to mean more than this. Sakura groaned in exasperation as the tears began to flow from her eyes and she couldn't stop them. Was there any reason to be alive at this point? Who needed her? Was there a purpose in this life? And just like that, the idea hit her.

'_I refuse to hurt those I love any longer,_' she settled in her mind. And with that, she set out for the hokage's office.

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><p>"Haruno Sakura, it's a bit late for you to be out right now," Tsunade greeted, eyes still locked on all of her paper work. "Have a seat."<p>

"I'm afraid I don't have time for that, Hokage-sama."

"Mm?" Confused, the Godaime looked up from her paper and was shocked to see Sakura with her pack. "Sakura, I have not assigned you to a mission. What is the meaning of this? Go back home and get some rest, you have a long shift at the hospital in a couple of hours."

"Tsunade-sama, I would like to request a formal waver of absence from Konohagakure," Sakura stated flatly.

"Sakura... Why?"

Sakura shut her eyes and inhaled deeply. She knew it wouldn't be easy, but she had never realized it would be this hard. "I have things I need to work out with myself, Lady Tsunade. I don't expect you to understand them. I want to go and train on my own and find my strengths and my weaknesses. Just know that I love my village, and I would rather not be a traitor, but if I have to leave without your permission, I will."

Tsunade rested her face in her interlocked fingers as she sighed. "I've seen this coming for awhile, I just figured you'd learned to live with it by now," she stated solemnly. She put a finger up to hush her apprentice as she opened her mouth to interject. "I will grant you this absence, but only on one condition: you let me make this a mission so the counsil doesn't get suspicious. I can't have them putting my beloved apprentice in the bingo book, now can I?"

Sakura felt a tug at her heart at Tsunade's words, but all she did was nod her head. She wished so badly that she didn't have to do this, but she also knew deep in her heart that this was the only thing she had left to do. She needed to figure life out for herself, she couldn't just keep going through the motions.

"If anyone is to ask of your mission, you do not reveal its information, although you know the rules of a shinobi already so you knew that. But that means you tell nobody, Sakura... Not even Naruto," Tsunade said firmly. "If you want this to be successful, you'll have to follow all of my rules. Also, at any point in time I can send a summon to ask for assistance if need be, and you will comply, yes?"

Sakura nodded. "I promise to keep training and to come back stronger than I was before," she said wistfully as she bowed and turned to walk out of the door.

"Oh, and Sakura?" Tsunade inquired.

"Yes, Tsunade-shishou?" Sakura as quizzically. As she turned and looked at her teacher, Tsunade could see the sorrow in her eyes.

"We will all miss you. Please be safe out there."

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><p>Naruto yawned and squinted his eyes as the sunlight filled his room. '<em>Wait... Sunlight? SHIT! I'M LATE!<em>'

Running around his room and getting all of his clothes on he came to the conclusion that he'd have to beat Sakura over the head for not coming to wake him up this morning like she usually did. As he went to brush his teeth he stopped to notice his window was open. Funny...he didn't remember opening his window last night. He closed the window and carried on to the bathroom anyway, knowing Kakashi would be there before him if he didn't hurry.

He left the bathroom and went to the front of his apartment to get his shoes when he found a note in front of the door.

'_Sakura..._' He thought to himself as he snatched the note up. This explained the window.

_Dear Naruto,_

_I have been assigned a mission as of late last night (when you read this it will be the next day). I don't know how hard this mission will be or how long it will take, but I will come back for you. Please don't give Tsunade-sama and Kakashi-sensei too much trouble. You can feel free to write me via summon whenever you wish, but I cannot tell you anything about this mission as of request of the Hokage. _

_Please promise me you will take care of yourself, and I will promise to you that I will come back stronger than I've ever been. I will miss you dearly, Naruto._

_Sincerely,_

_Haruno Sakura_

Naruto's eyebrows came together in confusion as he walked out of his apartment, taking the note with him, subconsiously walking slower than his normal pace while analyzing the note in his mind.

If she left it in the middle of the night, that meant it would have to have been while he was sleeping and she didn't want to wake him. What mission could be that important? And she wasn't allowed to talk about it, either. She always told at least him about her missions.

The kyuubi boy's brows furrowed once more as he shoved the letter in his pocket. Sakura had asked him not to be troublesome, but he felt like she was leaving something out, and he would find out one way or the other.

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><p>The air was cold and the sky was dark. Sasuke sighed as he walked into the nearest inn in sight. It was very nice on the outside, not that it mattered at all to him, but very small - just what he needed. Closing the door behind him, Sasuke walked into the building and laid down enough money for a one room for one night and no more.<p>

"Are you sure you wouldn't like to stay any longer than that?" The blonde woman on the other side of the counter asked him. "I can make it worth your while," she said flirtatiously as she winked at him.

Sasuke didn't even share a glance with her as he took the keys to his room, ignoring the fit she was throwing as he walked away.

"Sasuke-kun..."

Sasuke stopped.

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><p>Sakura was drenched in sweat and exhausted from having run without rest since she left the village last night. Having finally made it out of the woods and into a little town, she decided it would be a good idea to disguise herself and stash her forehead protector somewhere safe so she wouldn't be recognized. Quikly, she threw the hood of her cloak on after tying her hair up so that no one would recognize her obvious long pink locks.<p>

Walking to a food stand, she purchased enough food for a meal for two, being enough for tonight and tomorrow; she didn't want to stay any longer than she needed to. She was on her way to a training spot she knew nobody could find her, and if she slept all night tonight and left late tomorrow, she would be able to make it in about three days travel.

Drops starting to fall from the sky, but being a ninja, Sakura had been through worse and wasn't too worried about it. What was a little rain as long as she didn't stay out too long?

"Excuse me, Miss, but you might want to head home soon. There's supposed to be an awful storm tonight and I'd hate for your beautiful self to be caught in it," the stand owner said with a smile. Sakura looked up to the sky, noticing its dark appearance that, had she not been focused on other things, she would have noticed long ago.

Sakura gave the stand owner some money for her food and hurried along. She had much more to do, but it would have to wait; she couldn't afford to get sick. With that in mind, Sakura hurried to find an inn as quickly as possible.

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><p>"I see you found me, Karin," The Uchiha heir stated dryly. He wasn't pleased. Sure, Sasuke had seen this coming, but he definitely hadn't been looking forward to it.<p>

"Of course I found you, Sasuke-kun! You had me worried! I-"

"You can leave now."

"Sasuke-kun..." Karin gasped. "You're not going to come back with us?" Suddenly Juugo and Suigetsu ran up behin Karin. "There you are, Sasuke. I tell ya, you don't make it easy to find you, that's for sure," Suigetsu said before sucking up some water from a canister.

"I do not wish to be accompanied any longer," Sasuke said with an air of annoyance.

Karin went to throw herself on Sasuke, but he held out his hand. "Sasuke-ku-"

"I won't repeat myself. Leave." And with that, he walked his room and shut the door, leaving three now ex-teammates standing speechless behind him.

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><p>Sakura had just eaten and stored left-over food for the next day when she hopped in the hot shower. She let herself relish the feeling of the hot water on her skin, soaking her hair, cleansing her body. It was silly for her to be this happy about a shower, she kept telling herself, but she really didn't mind. '<em>It's the simple things in life, right?<em>' she thought with a smile. She gave herself this time to relax, knowing that once she stepped out her life would go back to being a nightmare.

She reluctantly turned the water off once it got cold and made her way to sleep on the futon after changing and brushing her teeth and hair. She pulled the covers over her head and closed her eyes, and luckily for her, she found sleep fast for the first time in months.

* * *

><p><em>The world around her was dark, except the ground around her was white. Everything else was black, pitch black. Total and utter darkness. She was the only light source to be found, yet in the darkness, her eyes started to adjust and she could see quite clearly.<em>

_Sakura had realized she was in an old house. It was very cozy feeling, the type of house that the instant you walked in it felt like home. It smelled like miso soup, her favorite meal growing up. Sakura closed her eyes and smiled as she inhaled through her nostrils just to make the smell more evident to herself._

"_Otou-san! Okaa-san! I'm home!" Sakura's eyes shot open, wide in terror._

_The pitch blackness wore off and Sakura saw herself as a child sitting in a chair at the kitchen table while her mother made her some miso soup. She remembered this day specifically, it was her very first day at the ninja academy when she was eight years old, and she had just gotten home and her father came and sat at the table in the chair across from her, just like she remembered he had. A tear welled up in Sakura's eye at the sight of her family all together._

"_How was your first day at school, Sakura?" her father had asked, enthusiastically._

"_It was fine. There was this really annoying kid, Naruto. But he doesn't have parents so he doesn't know how to act. And..." Eight year old Sakura blushed and hid her face._

"_Sakura. What is it?" Her mother smiled as she set the soup in front of her daughter and joined her family at the table. Sakura smiled as she looked down upon her parents, she hadn't noticed it before, but the way they looked at each other made her believe that love still existed...for others, at least._

"_Okaa-san, today, there was this boy in class and he was really cute. Uchiha Sasuke," eight year old Sakura started. "I know I'm not the prettiest, but if I try really hard, maybe I can be strong enough for him."_

_Suddenly, the scene wore off and everything became pitch black again, but this time, Sakura could not see anything. Her eyes never adjusted, either. But she could smell..what was that? The stench of blood? _

_'No... No...'_

_Suddenly her eyes adjusted and before she could realize what had happened, she screamed._

"_Naruto! Naruto, wake up!" she screamed._

_Before her was Naruto's body in a bloody heep, so mutilated that she could barely even recognize who he was. She ran over to his body and knelt before him, using chakra flow through her hands to try and heal him._

"_Damn it, Naruto! Wake up!" She cried. In an instant, light shed down on her and Naruto as he ascended into the sky. She had no idea what to do. The blood still present on her hands, she tried to wipe them off, to clean them, but the blood stuck, it never went away. "GET OFF! GET OFF OF ME!" She screamed. But nothing helped, she was trapped._

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><p><strong>AN: Okay! That's it for chapter two so far. Thank you for reading and please, review and let me know what you think!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Here's chapter three! Sorry for the wait. Enjoy!**

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><p>"What the hell is going on here?!" Naruto slammed the letter on a very unsatisfied Lady Tsunade's desk. "What is the meaning of this?"<p>

"NARUTO! CALM DOWN AND LET ME READ THE DAMN LETTER," Tsunade screamed. Geez, this brat could be a handful sometimes. Didn't he know to mind his manners by now?

Tsunade picked up the crumpled letter and instantly recognized the handwriting. _'Very clever move, Sakura. You can't tell him, but I can.' _She smirked to herself and shook her head. "It's pretty self-explanatory, Naruto. She's on a mission."

"You've got to be kidding me. Sakura always tells me what it is and she won't now. What's going on? What are you trying to hide from me?!" At this point, Naruto didn't care about manners anymore. He was livid. His friend was gone, his best friend. She always told him everything, but she wouldn't now, and she always kept things from him whenever she was up to something she thought he would object to. He couldn't shake the feeling she was up to no good.

"Have a seat, Naruto." The Godaime said as she sat up straight and folded her hands under her chin. She needed to calm Naruto down so he wouldn't interrupt Sakura, but that meant lying to him. She needed to think of something fast.

Naruto stopped pacing the room and sat in one of the chairs in front of the Hokage's desk. Tsunade felt so bad about this all and wished she could tell him. She'd never seen him so worried before and it hurt her to keep this from him and it hurt even worse that she had to lie. Did she really have to? She tried to list the pros and cons in her head.

If she kept it a secret, Naruto would probably figure it out and continue to hound her everyday about it. But, it would leave Sakura in peace and she would be able to find herself and maybe come back faster.

If she told him, he would try to go and find her, and he wouldn't leave her alone about it. Tsunade could find nothing good about this plan. She hated to do this, but she knew she needed to. She couldn't keep this from him.

"Naruto. Your teammate, Haruno Sakura, has been granted a formal waver of absence from Konohagakure."

"What?! What the hell is going on here?! You can't just-!"

"Enough, Naruto! I am not finished. Unless you would like to stay home from your mission and be stripped of your title as an ANBU black op, I suggest you keep your mouth shut until I'm finished!" Tsunade said firmly. Naruto closed his eyes and mouth and took a deep breath as he nodded, waiting for Lady Tsunade to continue.

"It is disguised as a mission so the council doesn't put her in the bingo book and scrap her Konoha ninja title, and quite frankly her title as a person from this village altogether. It is very important that you do not tell anyone. In the situation where people ask of her whereabouts, you know nothing about them nor her "mission." If I am to find out that you have told anyone, you will be stripped of all ninja titles and achievements and required to start from scratch. That goes for if you try to go out and find her, as well. Do I make myself clear?" The Godaime said. As she watched Naruto hang his head low, she barely heard him whisper, "Hai," as though it took every ounce of energy he had.

"Now that the professional part is out of the way, do you have any questions?" Tsunade asked quietly. Looking at Naruto's hurt demeanor was making her regret her choice of letting Sakura leave, but there was nothing she could do about it now. And, at the end of the day, Sakura would have left on her own terms had permission not been granted.

"Why did she go?" Tsunade swore she heard from Naruto.

"Sakura said she needed time to figure things out about herself...some time to work things out and train on her own. I think time away from everyone and everything in the village is what she needs to clear her mind. You and I both know she hasn't been herself these past couple of years. Well, whoever she is anymore, anyway. I think that's what she's trying to find out now. She promised she'd be back, though, and I have yet to see her break a promise," Tsunade smiled sympathetically. At this point, she wasn't sure whether she was talking to herself or Naruto. All she knew is she wanted the happy, determined Sakura back and she wanted her to come home safe.

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><p>Sakura jolted awake, out of breath. Quickly, she jumped out of bed and ran into the bathroom to look in the mirror. She sighed as she saw the the wetness on her was not blood, but sweat. She looked down at her shaking hands, palm up. <em>'I wonder what that could've meant...'<em> Sakura thought to herself. _**'It's just a dream. Don't be so dramatic, we have them all the time.'**_ Inner Sakura said as she rolled her eyes. Sighing, she turned on the shower and cleaned herself off, ridding her body of the sticky substance that clung to her as a reminder.

This was going to be a long trip if she kept having dreams like this...

After she had gotten ready for the day, Sakura decided that although she was ahead of time, she might as well leave to find her training spot. Early was better than late. She made sure to check her pack for all the things she might need along the way, even bringing some that she probably wouldn't, but just in case certain situations occurred, she wanted to be prepared. She took her forehead protector and shoved it in her bag, staring at it for a moment before forcing herself to close her pack and leave.

She walked away from the inn after paying and set off toward Kumogakure, the training grounds she was looking for were about a mile outside of the village gates. Sakura remembered once on a simple mission, she and Hyuga Hinata had come to Kumo to purchase a medication made specially by one of Kumo's top physicians, and they had passed the training grounds just outside of the village. She had asked the doctor about it, but it had been long abandoned according to him, so he said it was safe to use whenever they wished. Sakura smiled to herself as she remembered sparring with Hinata on the way back from getting the medicine.

Sakura hadn't noticed how long she had been running until the sun had started to set and the temperature had begun to drop. Not wanting to waste too much money, she decided it would be in her best interest to set up camp and make a fire. Luckily, she had made extra food the night before, so she didn't have to worry about waiting on it to cook. She let her food heat over the fire as she set up her tent and sleeping bag, making sure it was close to the warmth the fire brought her.

Her appetite wasn't what it usually was, but she figured that was because of her mood. She missed Naruto dearly. She wondered if Tsunade had broken down and told him yet or if he was still wondering where she was. Either way, she missed her friends.

She put out the fire after she finished her food, going to lay in her tent. As she laid there, Sakura looked up at the make-shift ceiling, opening herself up to all the thoughts that had been consuming her mind since that talk with Naruto. If she was being completely honest with herself, these thoughts had been around a lot longer than she led herself and everyone else onto believe. Naruto just finally triggered them and made them unavoidable.

_'I will not let these thoughts control the rest of my life.'_ Sakura clenched her hands into fists and squeezed her eyes shut. _'I refuse to be the weakest anymore. I will become stronger, I will become a ninja worthy of honor. Only then will I return home.'_

* * *

><p>Sasuke had traveled all day and was exhausted. He sighed as he threw away his food and turned on the shower of the new inn he had just checked into about two hours ago. He let himself soak a minute in the shower, but only just long enough to get clean. He was too emotionally and physically exhausted to really enjoy the little things, like showers, that he used to.<p>

After getting out of the shower and into the bed the inn offered, Sasuke lay there awake thinking. He had come up with a plan of action while running that day, it wasn't finished, but a start was better than nothing.

He would train. Sasuke would find somewhere to train that was secluded and didn't mean many travelers or ninja who came through that would see him. He needed time on his own to think out the rest of his plan, but for now, he was going to be completely and utterly alone. Not that it sounded good to him at all, because if Sasuke were being honest, he hated being alone. But he liked it much better than the company that he had found himself with in the past several years.

In Konoha, he had never minded being around his teammates. Even as annoying as they were, he had really started to consider them friends, and Kakashi...he had always looked up to Kakashi. But there was a reason he broke all the bonds he had, and that was old news anyway. Naruto had become a stronger ninja, but Sakura and Kakashi would always be the same, and he was still sure that even Naruto couldn't beat him in a battle. Sasuke chuckled at the thought. That was exactly why he'd left Konoha to begin with. Frienship meant nothing if you weren't growing as a ninja. Even as good as Kakashi was, he still couldn't beat Sasuke. Even Naruto couldn't... Because they were too worried about loyalty to friends and having friendships. Look at how far Sasuke had come whenever he risked that. He couldn't have kept friends and still become this strong, or so he thought.

But that was enough about those people for him. As he rolled over and closed his eyes, he found rest quite easily.

* * *

><p><em><strong>*^*^*Two Days Later*^*^*<strong>_

Sakura sighed as she walked to her destination. It had been four days since she'd left Konoha and she was finally almost where she needed to be. She walked through a mile of trees that wrapped around the grounds on each side, hiding it from mostly everyone who traveled. The doctor in Kumo had told her and Hinata this had been on purpose, as the person had been very sick who had lived there and wanted to live their last days in peace.

Sakura froze as she felt a strong chakra in her presence. _'Great. This is definitely a ninja. I suppose I should've guessed there would have been ninja around here,'_ she thought to herself.

* * *

><p>Sasuke slowed his pace from a steady run to a walk as the clearing of the training grounds came into view. It was nice and secluded, just like he wanted. There were tall, skinny trees that surrounded the grounds a mile out all ways around. Once he got past the trees, he saw that there was an old wooden house, kind of broken and dingy, but it wasn't anything he didn't know how to fix up. And in front of this house was a huge clearing, like a front yard of sorts. This was exactly what he needed.<p>

Sasuke walked into the house and put down his pack at the front door. He walked around to see exactly what he'd be having to fix. There wasn't much he saw except a few pieces of floorboard and a couple of broken windows, which wasn't that bad considering he didn't have any missions coming up that he needed to hurry and train for.

Sasuke froze as he heard movement outside. _'Someone is here.'_ The Uchiha used his speed to run into the crevice of the wall next to the front window so he could hide until the time to act. His eyes widened as he saw a pair of boots jump down from a tree nearby, and he smirked to himself. This was going to be fun.

Watching the ninja wander aimlessly around the clearing, Sasuke in an instant was in front of them with his sword to their back.

"I know you know that's a clone, your scare tactics won't work on me, Uchiha," he heard from a nearby tree. He turned his vision toward the sound and saw a grown-up Haruno Sakura standing upside down from one of the trees many branches, arms folded at her chest.

"Why are you here?" He asked in annoyance.

"I could ask you the same question," she said, straight-faced.

"That's none of your concern. If you're here to take me back to Konoha, I'm not going."

Sasuke cocked one of his eyebrows up in annoyance as Sakura burst into laughter. He hadn't said anything funny. She was already annoying him more than he would like for her to. And he knew exactly how this was going to go, she would say something like "_Then I'm taking you to Konoha by force," _and he would have to kill her to get her to leave him alone. The last thing he wanted to do was add more to his already guilty conscience.

"I'm not going to fight you," he warned.

"Please, Sasuke. I gave up on that a long time ago. Nice try, though. Believe it or not, meeting you here is merely coincidence," she said as she flipped from the tree and onto her feet, striding over to Sasuke. If it wasn't for his amazing self control, Sasuke would have had a completely dumfounded expression. _'Then what is she here for?'_ He studied her as she slowly walked over toward him. Sakura was not a tall person, in fact, she was rather short. Her height came to about 5'3", and her body was slender, but curvacious. She had definitely grown into a woman in the years since he'd seen her. Her hair was all the way down her back and down to her hips, and her big jade eyes complimented her light pink hair.

Sakura stopped close enough to Sasuke that she could still see his face without standing on her tip-toes. Sasuke was most definitely taller now, she'd say about 6'5" and his hair was longer than she had remembered it. He was of course very lean and muscular, and much more handsome and intimidating than she'd ever imagined he'd be, but she would never admit that.

Poking a finger to his chest, Sakura looked up into the Uchiha heir's eyes as she narrowed her own. "You don't scare me, Uchiha. I'm not the Haruno Sakura you knew back then." And just like that, she removed herself from him and walked a couple of feet away, sitting herself on the ground with her legs crossed so she could meditate. _**'Uchiha Sasuke is RIGHT THERE and you're coming over here to meditate?! At a time like this?! What are you doing?!'**_ Inner Sakura was jumping around screaming like a small child, and Sakura had to meditate to put her mind to rest. She didn't want to think about how shocked and, though she'd never admit it, slightly excited she was to see him again. It'd been years, but Sasuke would never want to just catch up with her and be friends, and she didn't know if she'd be willing to do the same, either. He was a trader to her village and she needed to continue to see him as just that and nothing more.

Sakura opened her eyes to see a very annoyed Sasuke staring down at her.

"What are you doing? Are you seriously going to stay here?"

Sakura closed her eyes again in an attempt to get back to meditating...or at least to look like it. "Yes, I am staying, that's why I traveled here. You're interrupting my meditation," she said with no mood apparent on her face. She couldn't show Sasuke what she was feeling, that was what weak ninja did, and she was not one of those anymore.

Before she knew it, Sasuke had Sakura by the throat slammed against the side of the house. With his sharingan activated, he looked angrily into the eyes of Sakura. "You are really starting to piss me off. Why shouldn't I just kill you right here?" He seethed from ground teeth.

Sakura stared back at Sasuke blankly while Inner Sakura's jaw had dropped to the ground. _**'Your smart mouth is going to get us killed!' **_"You could kill me here, but that would only add even more blood on your hands. Another death Uchiha Sasuke is responsible for." The words came out of her mouth in slow motion for Sasuke. _"...even more blood on your hands. Another death Uchiha Sasuke is responsible for."_ Sasuke's expression grew darker as he stared at Sakura for a long time, finally releasing her but not yet walking away. His eyes burned with more hatred than she could remember ever seeing in them.

"Stay out of my way," Sasuke growled. He was gone before Sakura could blink. Sakura stretched her charka out, searching to see if he was nearby, and when she couldn't feel him, slowly fell to the ground with her back still against the house, eyes wide in shock.

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><p><strong>AN: Sorry about the wait. The holidays rolled around and I had a lot of things come up and then I got the flu. :( But anyway! I hope you enjoyed this chapter and again I'm very sorry about the wait. Please review! It really would encourage me to update sooner if I knew people liked it. Thank you so much! I'll try to update soon!**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: I know I just updated yesterday, but I got suddenly just got to writing and couldn't stop. I know this chapter is a little shorter than the other ones, but I hope you enjoy!**

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><p>Sakura ran her hands through her hair as her body became weak and she began to shake. She had only ever seen that look in his eyes one time, and that was whenever Itachi had come to Konoha. Sakura furrowed her eyebrows as she thought. Even though the hate was so apparent in his face, it didn't seem to be aimed at her, and it didn't show up until she mentioned more blood on his hands.<p>

_'Sasuke...'_

She sighed as she closed her eyes and remembered the time in the hospital that she hugged him, Sasuke had never been one for close proximity, but that day he hadn't stopped her from the tight embrace. She believed that was only because he'd already known he was going to leave. Sakura had never imagined leaving the village would have entailed this to happen, but Sasuke was a rogue ninja, so she supposed she should have known he could have been at least seen while she was out.

Sakura exhaled and opened up her eyes, standing up and starting to stretch. She had a goal, and she wouldn't let anyone stand in the way of that. Not even Sasuke...

* * *

><p>Sasuke stood leaning on a tree, breathing slowly to calm his raging heart rate. Sakura's words had really stuck with him, but something had told him that it wasn't just her words that impacted him, but who they came from.<p>

The old Sakura would never have told him a thing like that. She would have cowered down to him, not poked him on the chest and looked directly into his eyes as he threatened to take her life. She would have fawned all over him, and instead she sat down, ignoring him, so she could meditate. Who was this woman?

"_...Another death Uchiha Sasuke is responsible for..."_

Sasuke turned around and punched the tree in anger as the words rang over and over in his mind. He knew he was a fuck up, Kami, how he knew. All she did was remind him of that. What was she doing here, anyway? Sasuke jumped up into the tree and ran from branch to branch with clenched fists back to the clearing, he was going to find out just what her intentions were.

* * *

><p>Sakura pulled her hair up into a bun and rubbed away the hairs sticking to her sweaty face. It had been hours since Sasuke left, and she was sure that meant he wouldn't come back. She was a little disappointed, but she hadn't really expected anything else. It was just a very weird way to meet back up with someone who used to mean so much to her. <em><strong>'Used to?'<strong>_ Inner Sakura made a very disapproving face. '_Shut up... He's old news.'_

Although she was tired, there was one last thing Sakura wanted to work on before she would let herself rest for the night. She knew this wouldn't take long, but she was willing to spend as much time as she needed to on it. She was happy she'd spent the whole day practicing taijutsu because now she was free to use up her chakra as much as she needed.

Sasuke watched Sakura from up in the treetops, masking his chakra. He'd been doing this for quite sometime but was beginning to get bored as he saw that she had only spent the day training, although he had to admit that she had great stamina now. But it was hard for him to be truly impressed with her, in his eyes, she always had been and always would be the weakest shinobi of Konoha. He watched as she sat in the grass for what seemed like forever, and almost jumped out of the tree and walked away from the clearing, when suddenly he felt an enormous amount of chakra that stopped him in his tracks. His entire body froze and the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. Slowly, he turned around. Sasuke was shocked as Sakura opened her eyes. It was like nothing he'd ever seen before...

Sakura sat down cross-legged and closed her eyes to concentrate. What she wanted to do wasn't hard but it required a lot of focus and control, but she had to be careful and not overdo herself or it could be dangerous. She squeezed her eyes shut and took a deep breath. She hadn't done this in a long time, and it made her a little nervous. _'Hansha Chakra no Justu! (reflective chakra jutsu)'_ she yelled at Inner Sakura. _**'Shannaro! It's about time! Kya!'**_ Suddenly, she saw a flash of white through her closed eyes and her body felt a river of new, heavy chakra pulsing through it. Sakura examined the world as she opened her eyes, the whites of her eyes were covered as they were now all pitch black and glowing. She looked around slowly, seeing nothing but black and white, which meant that it had worked. She stood up and noticed the black chakra spiraling around her body and smiled. It had been awhile since she'd gotten to use this, as it was forbidden for her to practice it more than once every couple of months by Tsunade, she'd said it could really hurt Sakura if she trained it any more than that. "Genjitsu ni modori! (Back to reality)" she yelled aloud, and she watched as the color slowly came back into her vision, the chakra around her faded, and her eyes turned their normal beautiful emerald color.

When she had found this as a child, she had always felt uneasy about it. It's not everyday you hear someone tell you they have a split personality, so she kept it to herself for a long time, not feeling comfortable telling people. When Ino had gotten into her mind during the chuunin exams, she didn't know Inner Sakura would take over, but she did. She'd made Ino promise not to tell anyone once they had become friends again, but after Tsunade had become her shishou, Sakura was tired of hiding it and decided to have her use some of her chakra to examine Sakura's mind.

_Tsunade came into the small room and greeted Sakura as she lay on a cot waiting on her. The Hokage had been awake all night reading and studying all about the Haruno clan in preparation for what Sakura wanted her to see. She was a little disappointed, because she had only found one thing like what her apprentice had said she'd experienced, but there was no way it was possible._

_After setting her things to the side, Tsunade took off her Hokage cloak and took a seat next to Sakura. "This isn't going to hurt, but it will feel slightly uncomfortable and intrusive. Don't worry, that's only natural," she warned. She closed her eyes and put her hands on Sakura's temple, letting her chakra gently flow into Sakura's brain to try and get a closer look into her mind. Her eyes shot open the instant the chakra touched Sakura's brain._

"_Tamashī no mohō (soul imitation)..." Tsunade whispered out loud. There was no way... This couldn't be possible! This hadn't been in the Haruno bloodline for hundreds of years, and even then, it had only been in the Haruno men. Tsunade had never seen anything like this before, and from what she had read, this could not only be extremely dangerous for any of Sakura's opponents, but also for Sakura herself. _

_Tsunade sat Sakura up and looked deep into her eyes. "Sakura, I'm glad you brought this to me whenever you did. I want to start training this with you,but you need to know some very important things before we begin," Tsunade said. Sakura noticed that her face looked nervous, her eyes were wide. She could tell that the Godaime's mind was in a completely different place._

"_First off, Sakura," Tsunade started. "What you have is known as tamashī no mohō. Your personality isn't just a separate part of your brain... It's a completely different soul." Sakura's jade orbs widened in confusion. "I don't understand, shishou. What does that mean?" Sakura inquired. _

"_It means that you have two separate chakra sources. It's kind of how Naruto has the nine-tailed fox. Only, yours isn't a demon... It's a bloodline trait, like the Hyuga clan's Byakugan. The only thing that's confusing me is I don't know how you obtained this trait. It hasn't been in the Haruno bloodline for hundreds of years, and it was only apparent in the males of the clan." Tsunade paused to let Sakura soak everything in as she saw her dumbfounded look. This was nothing that she, as a teacher to this young kunoichi, needed to be taking lightly. Sakura had no idea of the kind of power and strength she held. And here she was, the weakest link of team 7, but little did anyone know, she had just as much strength and power as the rest of the team...she was just too worried about things that didn't matter. It was time for Tsunade to knock some sense into her. She couldn't let Sakura waste this amazing chakra._

"_Listen to me, Sakura. This is not something to take lightly, this is a very powerful bloodline trait to posses. There are different levels to it, and we are only going to train you to tap into the first level. Anything farther than that could kill you. Promise me one thing," the Godaime looked very intently into the eyes of the cherry blossom-haired young woman._

"_Yes, Tsunade-sama?" Sakura asked, confused and nervous. Hearing that she could die from her own bloodline trait wasn't exactly anything less than intimidating._

"_You must never open up all levels of this trait unless it is a live or die situation to save your village or those you love."_

Sakura's ears perked as she heard the _snap!_ of her trap going off. She sighed to herself as she looked over and found a very unhappy Sasuke hanging upside down with a rope around one of his ankles.

"I guess your stealth isn't as good at seeing traps as it is when you're spying on people," Sakura said as she smirked at him, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"Get me down," Sasuke said dryly.

"Why were you spying on me?" Sakura asked, raising an eyebrow as Sasuke's furrowed slightly. He was getting annoyed and it amused her.

Sasuke just stared at Sakura and finally used his own strength to pull himself up, cut the rope around his leg and flip around to land on his feet. He watched as Sakura walked inside the old wooden house, turning on the lights. She hadn't yet had the time to inspect the house, so she walked through the rooms of the house. There was a small kitchen area, a bathroom, two small bedrooms and a little living and dining area. Sakura came out and stood on the front porch of the house, seeing Sasuke staring as her in a quizzical manner. It was almost impossible to ignore him, but she tried as she sat down at the edge of the porch, letting her feet hang off.

Man, if Sasuke hadn't gotten even more beautiful than before... Sakura looked away from him and down to her lap to hide the redness on her cheeks. She needed to stop thinking like this. "Sasuke?" She called as she looked up to him. "Would you like some food?"

"Hn."

And even though she had no idea what that meant, Sakura got up and made her way into the village with Sasuke. The walk there was silent, and instead of eating out, Sakura had decided to buy groceries to take back to the small house since she planned on staying there for awhile. This would have annoyed Sasuke, but Sakura didn't ask him to hold the bags the entire way back.

Once they got to the house, Sasuke sat on the front porch staring outside while Sakura made dinner. He sat silently looking up at the stars, thinking about the words Sakura had said to him. They'd been on his mind all day. That's why he was here, so he could change the person he was, so he could give his life a purpose. But why was she here? Was she on some kind of mission? If so, that meant he had to leave or she would tell Konoha officials about spotting Sasuke, and he didn't want to go back to that Kami-forsaken village.

Sakura sat next to Sasuke and handed him a plate of food and chopsticks and started eating her food. They ate in silence and Sakura took their plates and cleaned them off, putting them away when she was finished, and came back, sitting down next to Sasuke again.

Sasuke looked over to Sakura, noticing something he hadn't before. "You're not wearing your hitai-ate," he said with monotonicity. It was supposed to sound like a question, but Sakura knew he was meant it more in a statement like way. He didn't want a 'yes' or a 'no,' he wanted an explanation.

Sakura looked up to Sasuke and looked into the sky, putting her folded hands in her lap. "My last night in the village, Naruto got mad because I had been training before sunrise and past sundown," Sakura smiled to herself bitterly as she remembered her good friend, and how his face lit up whenever she finally accepted dinner. Sasuke kept his eyes on her, waiting for her to continue.

"I've trained and grown a lot since you left the village. Every morning I wake up before sunrise to train, and I don't go home until after sunset, even past then sometimes. I have gotten much stronger than I used to be, but it's not as much as I would like. So I got a "mission" to leave Konoha and train, and here I am. I am here to train and find myself, and better myself as a shinobi. I no longer want to be the weak one getting in the way. I came here because I wanted to be somewhere nobody could find me so I could learn how to test myself to the limits. I'd been on a mission and passed this place, so when I left Konoha, I knew I could come here and be safe. But, I guess I haven't changed much, because even in trying to better myself I got in your way...and I haven't seen you in years." At this point, Sakura was more of speaking her thoughts and less explaining. Sasuke noticed this as he saw her focus looked as though it was somewhere else but this present moment.

"Hn." He closed his eyes and faced forward. Sasuke knew why she was there now, but he didn't want to say why he was; it wasn't her concern, but he knew she was going to ask anyway.

"I'm here because I've already accomplished my life goals. I'm only here to train so I can become better everyday and stay somewhere where I won't be found." Sakura looked at Sasuke wide-eyed. She hadn't expected him to explain his side of things.

"Your goals?" she inquired.

"I've killed Danzo, Madara, Itachi and Orochimaru."

Inner Sakura palmed her forehead. Of course that's what he meant, how could she have forgotten? That's what drove him away from the village.

They sat outside for a moment in silence, both lost in thought. Sasuke was surprised at how comfortable he felt around Sakura. It'd been years since they'd spoken any words to each other, and even longer since he'd sat next to her. The silence wasn't awkward to him, he welcomed it, actually. It gave him time to think without her intruding into his thoughts and yet gave him the company of someone to share those thoughts with. He'd never thought he'd see Sakura more than anything other than annoying, and it was very weird to him.

"I don't have to stay here," Sasuke heard her say. He raised an eyebrow as she looked at him.

"I don't want to get in your way, Sasuke." She said as she looked down at her hands.

Sasuke scoffed, "Then don't."

Sakura looked up into Sasuke's eyes, into his very emotionless face.

"You seriously don't mind me staying?" She asked as she watched him stand up.

"Don't be annoying," was the last thing she heard him say before he walked in the house, shutting the wooden door behind him.

Sakura had trained herself to forget about Sasuke. Once her parents died, she had more to worry about than being a broken-hearted, lovesick teenager who needed to bring him back to the light. She had cried over him long enough and wasted enough of her life thinking of him that she could have spent training, but she couldn't say she had ever forgiven him for that night, or that she had ever stopped missing him. So it came as a surprise to her whenever she looked up at the stars and couldn't help but smiling a genuine smile, for the first time in a long time, all because of him.

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><p><strong>Thank you for reading! Reviews are always more than welcomed. (Of course.) And I hope you liked it!<strong>


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Okay! So I wanted to apologize for all the time between this chapter and chapter four. I let someone borrow my laptop, and whenever I got it back, it was FULL of viruses. We bought a protector thing for it, I just have to put it on here before the viruses get any worse. That being said, it's kind of hard for me to upload while all of this is going on, so I just ask and thank you in advance for your patience. Also, I know I haven't mentioned this before, but I accept anonymous reviews as well. Each review is just as important to me, because I'd love to know what all of you think. Every opinion is just as important, account or not. But I'll shut up... Now onto chapter five!**

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><p>It was still dark when Sakura was jolted awake in her sleep from yet another nightmare. Her breaths were short and deep as her body shook violently under the covers, her wide eyes staring deep into the palms of her hands, but her mind thinking of nothing but the horrors of her dreams.<p>

What must this mean? It was the same dream she'd had last time, except, instead of Naruto being dead, this time it was Sasuke...

_'It's probably just my mind stressing,' _Sakura thought to herself. But she couldn't shake the feeling that it might mean something. Even if it did, she didn't think sitting here crying over it would help anything, so she got dressed and silently (as to not wake Sasuke) walked out of her room, on the opposite side of the house from Sasuke's, and into the clearing in front of the house to train, shutting the little wooden door behind her.

Sakura usually loved the calming feeling of training her medical ninjutsus before the sun rose up, but this time something was different. She couldn't get the images of Sasuke and Naruto out of her mind, and although she related the nightmares with stress, she couldn't help but feeling as though the nightmares might have actually meant something. If they did, she was going to make sure that she trained as hard as she could to protect them, she couldn't let anyone else die because she was too weak to save them.

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><p>"Naruto-kun," he heard queitly behind his stool at Ichiraku's.<p>

"Hinata-chan!" he turned around and greeted her with a smile. Hinata and Naruto had been dating for quite some time now. They'd hidden their relationship from her father for about a year, but Naruto decided once he actually fell in love with Hinata that it would be time to tell her father.

At first, Hyuga Hiashi was not at all pleased, but after a couple of months he'd learned that Hinata would do as she pleased any way so he relented and, much to their surprise, ended up really caring about the young kyuubi boy.

So, here they were, the day after their three year anniversary, and Hinata was almost just as shy as the day she met Naruto. Of course, now he could kiss her and show affection without her fainting, but the redness of her face and the butterflies in her stomach had never really gone away. Naruto was glad for this, because he loved her whenever she blushed, it was adorable, he thought. She'd sworn that it had maybe even gotten worse, but that was only because her love for him had grown over the years.

She sat down in the stool next to him as he ordered them both bowls of ramen. He smiled at her and they talked about the amount of time that had passed since they first met, and how crazy it was that they were now twenty years old.

"E-everyone has grown so much since we were genin," Hinata stuttered. "Especially S-Sakura-chan. I think she's grown th-the most of all of us."

She watched as the light in Naruto's eyes started to dull and he stared down at his ramen. "Yeah. She has, hasn't she?" he muttered depressingly.

Naruto had told her that Sakura was on a mission and he didn't know when she'd be back after he'd visited the hokage's office just yesterday, he'd pulled the note from his pocket and shown her and expressed that he was very worried for Sakura.

Sakura and Naruto's friendship was hard for Hinata to handle at the beginning of their relationship, because she'd believed that Naruto was still in love with Sakura. But as the years passed, Hinata realized they were family to each other, and that Naruto treasured Sakura more than most people, if Hinata were to take a guess, she might have said maybe more so than herself even. Because Naruto and Sakura were the only family each other had left, especially after Sasuke had already left the village. And because of Naruto's love for Sakura, Hinata had grown to understand and love Sakura the same.

She may not have loved her as much as Naruto did, because she couldn't understand the hurt, but she loved Sakura because Naruto held an undying trust and love for her. Hinata thought back to the time Naruto told him Sakura fought the sound ninja who had tried to attack Naruto and Sasuke during the chuunin exams. Anyone willing to risk their life to save this man sitting next to her was a person worthy of all of the love in the world, Hinata thought.

Hinata gently squeezed Naruto's hand and looked into his eyes. "She'll be okay, Naruto-kun. Whatever mission this is, Hokage-sama trusted her with it. Doesn't that make her strong enough to do this? We should trust her m-more than this."

She waited as Naruto sat still for a moment, and smiled to herself as the Naruto she knew came back, looking to her with a huge smile on his face. "You're right, Hinata-chan! This is why I love you!" He yelled as he threw his arms around her, and she swore she died a little inside at his touch.

Naruto was walking home from Hinata's compound. The sun was still up and everyone in the village was still out and about, but Naruto just wanted some alone time to collect his thoughts. He had already lost Sasuke to Orochimaru because he wanted revenge. Is that what Sakura was trying to accomplish? Did she want revenge, too?

Naruto had never heard Sakura say that she'd thought her parents had been killed, but he knew her well enough to know that's what she'd been thinking all these years. Maybe that's why she'd trained herself so hard, and maybe that's why she'd left to train even harder. He didn't know for sure, he just hoped revenge wasn't what she was looking for, because she'd come out just as empty feeling as Sasuke had.

The kyuubi boy stopped in front of his apartment, noticing a chakra inside. Really? A ninja who was trying to break-in to his apartment? They should at least make sure they're not breaking into the home of a shinobi who could clearly kick their asses.

Naruto stepped inside very confidently and shut the door behind him, not trying to hide his presence, because if it were a ninja they would have already noticed him there anyway.

"I know you're here. Show yourself," Naruto said calmly.

Before he realized what was going on, he felt a needle in the back of his neck and his body collapsed. The last thing he saw before everything around him went dark was two arms grab his body and pick him up.

This was really not a good week.

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><p>Sakura lay on the ground, her body shaking from being overworked. She was breathing hard, short breaths as she let herself lay there for one last minute before she was to get up and continue training. The sun was out now and shown in her eyes as she propped her arm so she could sit up. After wiping away the loose strands of hair from her face, she went to stand when a hand on her shoulder stopped her.<p>

"You need food," she heard from Sasuke's apathetic voice.

"I'm not done training yet," she argued as she stood, turning around to face Sasuke. To her surprise, he had onigiri in his hands. She assumed it was just for him and that he was telling her to make her own.

"Eat," he said as he shoved the onigiri in her hand, leaving her speechless as he walked away empty-handed.

She stood there a moment until she followed him into the house, watching as he ate his own food in silence. As usual, he looked up at her not saying anything, waiting for her to speak.

"Thank you, Sasuke," she muttered. She was embarrassed, really. She felt like a child around him, and after how hard she'd trained over the years, that wasn't exactly the most welcoming feeling in the world.

Sasuke's eyebrow almost raised as he noticed she still wasn't using the suffix, but he'd already registered in his mind that this wasn't the same Sakura from before, and even though she was still weak in his mind like the old Sakura, he knew that she probably didn't love him like she used to. Of course, that didn't bother him. She would stay out of his way in this case, plus he could understand her feelings, in a way, he figured he probably deserved it.

"Hn," was all he uttered out as he closed his eyes. He wasn't a man of many words, Sakura knew, so she'd accept the small 'you're welcome' for what it was. She crossed her legs and sat across from him, eating with him in silence, too deep in thought to notice when he got up and walked out of the house to do some training of his own after he'd finished his food.

Seven years.

Seven years had passed since the day he'd left. In those seven years, he'd tried to kill her, and she'd tried to kill him.

In those seven years, she'd learned to put her love for him in the back of her mind because Sasuke would never love her the way she loved him.

In those seven years, promises were broken, tears were shed, and people were changed. Some for the better, and some for the worse.

In those seven years, Sasuke had become a walking contradiction. Someone who was a complete stranger, but who she knew so much about. Someone she didn't know, but someone she could read like a book.

And she'd learned in the seven years since he'd left that life with Sasuke would always be this way. She'd always have more to learn about this man she had known so well at one point in time. But so much time had passed that she wondered if it was even worth trying to get to know him.

So she'd stopped trying, in those seven years, to find Sasuke. She'd given up hope, and come to terms with the fact that he would never love her and Naruto the way they loved him, and that Konoha would never be his home...that they would never be friends.

Yet, here she was, seven years later, eating lunch with him as though nothing had happened. They didn't talk, but there across from her had just sat a stranger, yet a friend, who meant everything and nothing at all to her. It angered her that after seven years, SEVEN YEARS, of her life, fighting, worrying, crying, training, bleeding, risking her life all for him...this is how they meet.

No apology. No 'I'm coming home.' No 'Thank you.'

Nothing.

And yet, it made her sad, because it was just like Sasuke not to say those things, but who was Sasuke anymore? She didn't know.

And so she got up and marched outside, standing in front of Sasuke, looking angry.

She didn't know what to say, and she didn't know what to do. So she stared at him angrily for a long time, letting her eyes betray all of the emotions she wouldn't, couldn't, tell Sasuke. Letting her face tell him of all the feelings she did and didn't hold for him anymore, because she didn't know this man standing before her, but she knew him better than anyone else did.

And as Sasuke stood before Sakura, watching her face betray the things she'd long ago shoved deep into her heart and locked away, he felt something he hadn't felt in the longest time.

Something he could only relate to the feeling he had when he thought about killing Itachi.

Seven years.

Sasuke had left the village seven years ago, and for the first time since those seven years had passed, he looked stared into Sakura's eyed and felt guilt and regret.

And for the first time since those seven years had passed, he didn't know why, but he'd wished he'd given her and Naruto the chance to let him in.

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><p><strong>AN: Okay! That's it for chapter five! ;D Honestly, so far, this is my favorite one. This was actually a lot of fun to write. **

**It's funny, because in real life, me and some of my friends actually represent some of the Naruto characters. I have pink hair (obv. Dyed) and green eyes, and my boyfriend had black hair and black eyes. My best friend is blonde-haired and blue eyed, and her boyfriend kind of looks like shikamaru. It's so weird. o.O Anyway! Thank you so much for reading! Please review if you'd like!**


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